It was not the first time, nor the second, that I had gone away—as it seemed, permanently—but yet returned, like the bad halfpenny, or as if Salem were for me the inevitable centre of the universe.

这不是第一次， 也不是第二次，我离开了——似乎是永久地离开了——但又回来了，就像坏的半便士， 或者好像塞勒姆对我来说是宇宙不可避免的中心。